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Brought to you by Northeast Alabama Regional Medical Center
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Today, the former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman learned Wednesday that his fate will be decided August 3. Siegelman was convicted of accepting a bribe from HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy and was sentenced to more than seven years in prison. Siegelman has been free since 2008, serving only nine months behind bars pending his appeal.
The U.S. Supreme Court recently rejected the former governor's last appeal. Birmingham defense attorney Roger Appell believes some of the original sentence could be reduced.
"I think there is a good chance the judge will reduce his sentence somewhere in the range of twelve months like he did for Mr. Scrushy. I think there is a good chance of that," Appell said. Scrushy has been released from federal prison and is now in a halfway house in Texas. Cumberland Law School Dean and former federal judge John Carroll says prosecutors will be pushing for no reduction of sentence.
"I think they will say the core crime is the same. The charges should result in an identical sentence. Governor Siegelman has not accepted responsibility for what has happened," Carroll said.
Siegelman attorney Susan James says defense attorneys, prosecutors and US District Judge Mark Fuller discussed their schedules in a conference call Wednesday. James believes Siegelman should get a reduced sentence.
"He remains very positive and he put his time in the community. He has put that to good use. He has done a lot of good things like he has always didn. He always tried to do the right thing for other people," James said. Still Appell believes the former governor's best chance to get out of jail early will be a pardon from President Obama. "I think he would have a better chance if Mr. Obama lost. A lot of president's pardon on the way out," Appell said.
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Keywords: Alabama, Don Siegelman, sentencing, convicted, bribe, appeal,
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